[musicrow.com]

"Morris Higham Management (MHM) has signed the estate of Kris Kristofferson for management representation. The legendary songwriter and actor officially retired in 2020, leaving his son John Kristofferson to lead the family’s businesses. Longtime Kristofferson friend and colleague Tamara Saviano remains as public relations director."

One of the greats

Love Kris..
Have seen him many times over the decades, once with Merle Haggard in a small club like setting some years back.
As good a human as he is a writer/performer imo.

Legend.. hope he continues to make an occasional appearance.

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MisterDDDD
Love Kris..
Have seen him many times over the decades, once with Merle Haggard in a small club like setting some years back.
As good a human as he is a writer/performer imo.

Legend.. hope he continues to make an occasional appearance.

Met him once after a show in San Antonio. From the stage he called out to my Father-in-Law (Whom I didn’t believe knew him...they were High School Friends in Brownsville) to stop by his dressing room.

Nice guy, very friendly too all of us.

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-01-28 16:12 by rattler2004.

Great songwriter--- one of Nashville's best ever !

Blame it on the Stones...

[www.youtube.com]

His grandpa was a Swedish corporal from Nås, Dalarna who emigrated to America in 1905. His father made it to major general in the Air Force.

saw him twice – once in 2008, once in 2018
in 2008 he was great. I sat in the very front row in Hamburg CCH and could literally put me feet on the stage. Thus I heard him real live, not through the PA.

In 2018 he played Circus Krone in Munich with some members of Merle Haggard's band. Kristofferson seem to be very old and ill somehow. When he left stage before the encores I somehow wondered if he had (partly) lost his eyesight.
He played 'Okie From Muskogee' which seem weird/absurd to me since he used to be the champion of alt-country music not of reactionary country music

Ethan Hawke did a piece about Kris in the Rolling Stone in 2009.

After Toby Keith was awarded a National Medal Of Arts from the former resident, it was revealed on social media that the "star" who's name was blinded from the article was Toby. Funny story, good article..

APRIL 16, 2009 9:00AM ET
Kris Kristofferson: The Last Outlaw Poet
His all-American journey has taken him from the Army Rangers to Nashville to Hollywood — with a few stops in the gutter along the way
by ETHAN HAWKE

[www.rollingstone.com]

The hell he's retired. He hasn't finished clearing out the barn yet!

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slewan
saw him twice – once in 2008, once in 2018
in 2008 he was great. I sat in the very front row in Hamburg CCH and could literally put me feet on the stage. Thus I heard him real live, not through the PA.

In 2018 he played Circus Krone in Munich with some members of Merle Haggard's band. Kristofferson seem to be very old and ill somehow. When he left stage before the encores I somehow wondered if he had (partly) lost his eyesight.
He played 'Okie From Muskogee' which seem weird/absurd to me since he used to be the champion of alt-country music not of reactionary country music

Kris toured with Merle and his band for quite some time, they were friends.

As this concert was not long after Merle's passing, doing "Okie" with Merle's band would make it a tribute... No absurdity detected.

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Silver Dagger
The hell he's retired. He hasn't finished clearing out the barn yet!

His cover songs were great as well. Sorta like a cross between Nelson, Dylan etc...

Seen Kris and his daughter Kelly's concert when they toured in 2014, he's a very good storyteller he spoke a bit of his close friend Johnny Cash.
I've a rare signed promo poster he signed. Kris Kristofferson an American icon

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ColonialstoneNZ
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MisterDDDD

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slewan
saw him twice – once in 2008, once in 2018
in 2008 he was great. I sat in the very front row in Hamburg CCH and could literally put me feet on the stage. Thus I heard him real live, not through the PA.

In 2018 he played Circus Krone in Munich with some members of Merle Haggard's band. Kristofferson seem to be very old and ill somehow. When he left stage before the encores I somehow wondered if he had (partly) lost his eyesight.
He played 'Okie From Muskogee' which seem weird/absurd to me since he used to be the champion of alt-country music not of reactionary country music

Kris toured with Merle and his band for quite some time, they were friends.

As this concert was not long after Merle's passing, doing "Okie" with Merle's band would make it a tribute... No absurdity detected.

but he could haven chosen any other song

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slewan

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MisterDDDD

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slewan
saw him twice – once in 2008, once in 2018
in 2008 he was great. I sat in the very front row in Hamburg CCH and could literally put me feet on the stage. Thus I heard him real live, not through the PA.

In 2018 he played Circus Krone in Munich with some members of Merle Haggard's band. Kristofferson seem to be very old and ill somehow. When he left stage before the encores I somehow wondered if he had (partly) lost his eyesight.
He played 'Okie From Muskogee' which seem weird/absurd to me since he used to be the champion of alt-country music not of reactionary country music

Kris toured with Merle and his band for quite some time, they were friends.

As this concert was not long after Merle's passing, doing "Okie" with Merle's band would make it a tribute... No absurdity detected.

but he could haven chosen any other song

You get the concept of "tribute" yes?

He was touring with Merle, where they would essentially take turns playing each others songs. Okie was Merle's greatest hit and hugely popular with the crowd when they played, Great for an encore. I can attest to that first hand.

Given the circumstances, it would be "weird/absurd" not to play it imo.

Discovered Kris Kristofferson via "The Music for the Unicef Concert" album where he played with Rita Coolidge a song called "Fallen Angels". I wore out this album.

He is a great songwriter, never had the chance to see him live. I think persons like him never retires.

Bye
Fernando

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MisterDDDD
Ethan Hawke did a piece about Kris in the Rolling Stone in 2009.

After Toby Keith was awarded a National Medal Of Arts from the former resident, it was revealed on social media that the "star" who's name was blinded from the article was Toby. Funny story, good article..

APRIL 16, 2009 9:00AM ET
Kris Kristofferson: The Last Outlaw Poet
His all-American journey has taken him from the Army Rangers to Nashville to Hollywood — with a few stops in the gutter along the way
by ETHAN HAWKE

[www.rollingstone.com]

Wow. That puts Toby Keith in a new Ford headlight. What a prick.

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slewan
saw him twice – once in 2008, once in 2018
in 2008 he was great. I sat in the very front row in Hamburg CCH and could literally put me feet on the stage. Thus I heard him real live, not through the PA.

In 2018 he played Circus Krone in Munich with some members of Merle Haggard's band. Kristofferson seem to be very old and ill somehow. When he left stage before the encores I somehow wondered if he had (partly) lost his eyesight.
He played 'Okie From Muskogee' which seem weird/absurd to me since he used to be the champion of alt-country music not of reactionary country music

Even acts like The Grateful Dead have covered that song. Maybe its not to be taken 100% at face value.

WILLIE NELSON SINGS KRIS KRISTOFFERSON is one of the greatest albums ever made.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-01-29 04:17 by GasLightStreet.

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Gazza

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slewan
saw him twice – once in 2008, once in 2018
in 2008 he was great. I sat in the very front row in Hamburg CCH and could literally put me feet on the stage. Thus I heard him real live, not through the PA.

In 2018 he played Circus Krone in Munich with some members of Merle Haggard's band. Kristofferson seem to be very old and ill somehow. When he left stage before the encores I somehow wondered if he had (partly) lost his eyesight.
He played 'Okie From Muskogee' which seem weird/absurd to me since he used to be the champion of alt-country music not of reactionary country music

Even acts like The Grateful Dead have covered that song. Maybe its not to be taken 100% at face value.

well, some songs have a story behind them, some are notorious and some are poisoned…

This song quickly became a hit with those that do smoke marijuana in Muskogee.. My teenage friends and I used to sing along regularly.. not really giving much thought to the lyrics really other than to be thrilled to be singing that line.. People on both sides of the issues loved it for different reasons, some mocking it (like me) and others praising it., which made it his signature song.

Since The Vietnam War Merle Haggard's 'Okie From Muskogee' Continues to Make An Impact

On Sept. 29, 1969, Merle Haggard released his song "Okie From Muskogee." The tune went on to be one of the California native's biggest hits -- and controversial -- country songs ever. Even to this day, "Okie" means different things to different people. But one thing's for certain. Without "Okie From Muskogee," the Hag's career and country music's history would be completely different.

In a lot of ways, "Okie From Muskogee" ushered in a side of the 1970s pop culture seems to forget. While the late 1960s and early 1970s are synonymous with "flower power" and hippies, counter-culture movements were just as strong. They just weren't as talked about.

He went a step further, calling himself "dumb as a rock" at the time he wrote it and saying that he began singing the tune as a snapshot of America at the time. Really, he took a rather cynical view. "I've learned the truth since I wrote that song," he told American Songwriter. "I play it now with a different projection. It's a different song now. I'm different now. I still believed in America then. I don't know that I do now."

That's a lot to take in. How do you talk about the lasting impact of a song when you can't even pin down what it means to its writer (who at one point wished he never wrote it)? That's just another part of its legacy.

But the impact of "Okie From Muskogee" transcends what it did for and to Merle Haggard. Sure, it tripled his performance fees in a year (to $10,000). It also got him invited to the White House (by Richard Nixon, no less). It confused some of his contemporaries, like Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, who either refused to play it when asked or played it as a joke. In fact, before he performed it at a 1972 concert, Kristofferson said, "With apologies to our good friend Merle Haggard, who is neither a redneck or a racist, he just happens to be known for probably the only bad song he ever wrote."
[www.wideopencountry.com]







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-01-29 21:19 by MisterDDDD.

Okie is a great song.(
I don't know how he meant it -- and I'm not sure Merle does, either! -- but it works on many levels. Yes, it's a redneck anthem, but it's also alt-ironical. And it can be both!
I know many 'rednecks' who straddle both worlds.
Also, American Southerners who are reasonably aware know they are looked down upon by coastal elites (and Europeans) and so they've learned to poke at the prejudice in a good humoured way. Okie is kind of their middle finger to the world.
Kristofferson himself embodies many of those contradictions. He is intelligent and educated ... served in the military .. A Christian who chose to write and work in the country music capital of Nashville ... acted in America's new-age secular capital of Hollywood. He has a lot of influences in him; at heart I see the Scots-Irish rebelliousness is the heart of him.

Agree wholeheartedly on the Willie Sings Kristofferson album; a funky series of covers from one great songwriter to another.

I'm saddened to hear of Kris retiring, but obviously he can afford to rest now. I remember seeing him at the London Palladium. Standing in the queue waiting to get in, some young chaps walked by, and they said "I didn't know Whistler (Blade character) was a musician", so his acting at some stage overshadowed his songwriting.

However, Kris did cover Okie From Muskogee in the 1970s: there's a live album with it on. Likewise, on the same album, he did John Prine's Late John Garfield Blues. The album has Rita Coolidge on it, and Willie Nelson as a guest.

Most of all, I think we'll miss Kris for his songwriting. I think the first two albums, Kristofferson and Silver Tongued Devil, are the albums where the standards come from. However, I love tipping my hat to Borderlord, Spooky Lady's Sideshow, Surreal Thing, To The Bone etc. Anyone that could write things like Rescue Mission, Kiss The World Goodbye, It Sure Was Love, Stagger Mountain Tragedy, 2000 - 25, Shandy (Whores Die Hard), Nobody Loves Anybody Anymore, Maybe You Heard, etc, and the crying shame is that it went unnoticed. At least, a forthcoming Ace compilation, highlighting some of these songs, covered by other artists, will bring them to the fore.

Throw in the fact that Kris appreciated and introduced us to greats like John Prine, T Bone Burnett (Star is Born soundtrack), and you'll find he's a great guy.

His stuff with Rita Coolidge was awesome as well !

Somebody wake him up